Prabowo Instructs Officials to Further Reduce Hajj Waiting Period

President Prabowo Subianto has instructed his ranks to further reduce the Hajj waiting period, which currently stands at 26 years. Ketua Tim Pengawas (Timwas) Haji DPR Cucun Ahmad Syamsurijal said Prabowo wants the waiting time to be cut even more quickly. “He said, if possible, please make it faster. What would the scheme look like if the queue were not this long,” Cucun said after meeting Prabowo in Hambalang, Bogor, West Java, on Wednesday (17/6), as quoted from a press release by the Government Communication Agency (Bakom).

The press release stated that during the meeting at Prabowo’s private residence, Cucun reported that he and the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah had delivered a report on the implementation of the 1447 Hijriah Hajj pilgrimage. On that occasion, Prabowo asked his staff to formulate a mechanism to shorten the waiting period.

Cucun said the Hajj waiting period is one of the issues of greatest concern to Prabowo regarding the organisation of the fifth pillar of Islam. He also appreciated the government’s efforts this year, which successfully reduced the waiting time from around 35 to 40 years down to 26 years.

“His concern, which we greatly appreciate, is the desire to address this queue, which previously was nearly 35 to 40 years. Through his assistants, the President, the Minister of Hajj and the Deputy Minister, all worked and managed to reduce it to 26 years,” said the Golkar Party politician.

Through the same press release, Minister of Hajj and Umrah Mochammad Irfan Yusuf confirmed that Prabowo had asked his ministry to seek various alternative solutions to achieve this, even though pilgrims departing this year had waited an average of 13 to 14 years. “He is thinking, try to find a way to make it even faster. And we, together with our colleagues in the DPR, still have to think hard to make this happen,” said the man familiarly known as Gus Irfan.